The most popular use of nicotine, an addictive, relatively harmless agent produced from the combustion of tobacco, involves the smoking of cigarettes or cigars. Individuals inhale the smoke from these devices in an effort to obtain the pleasant physiological effect that nicotine has on the body. Nicotine is absorbed by the lungs when the smoker inhales the smoke. Unfortunately, nicotine is only one of over four thousand components of cigarette smoke, four hundred of which are known carcinogens or harmful toxins. It is now widely known that these other elements of cigarette smoke are responsible for a number of serious physical ailments, including lung cancer. Additionally, recent studies indicate that even second-hand smoke (i.e., smoke inhaled while in close proximity to a smoker) can cause these same maladies in non-smokers.
Furthermore, a substantial number of fires are caused as a result of smoking. Thousands of people are injured or killed, and millions of dollars in property loss occur each year in the United States as a direct result of cigarette smoking. Finally, a few relatively minor problems associated with smoking--stained teeth, dry and wrinkle-prone skin, and smoke-damaged clothing--make the habit annoying as well as dangerous.
In response to these concerns, businesses, employers, and law makers have restricted or prohibited the use of cigarettes in a variety of places and situations. For example, in the United States virtually all domestic airline flight prohibit smoking. And while most restaurants provide both smoking and non-smoking sections, many offices, hospitals, campuses and even whole cities have banned the activity altogether.
A variety of cigarette-like devices have been invented in an effort to counteract the foregoing negative aspects of smoking. These devices, however, have only provided limited solutions often at the expense of commercial success or consumer acceptance since they lack the normal look, feel, and sensation of smoking a traditional cigarette. Complex filters and devices which otherwise improve the quality of the smoke delivered to the smoker do not provide solutions to the bulk of the concerns associated with traditional cigarettes. These devices are still ignited and still produce the same health, safety and practical concerns associated with smoking traditional cigarettes. Non-ignited devices, while eliminating the concerns associated with smoke, do not offer the user the look, feel and sensation of actually smoking a traditional cigarette. Furthermore, many of these devices do not provide the user with nicotine. Finally, a large number of the existing devices involve complicated designs, resulting in higher costs for manufacturers and consumers alike.
The present invention provides a solution to the aforementioned shortcomings of available alternatives to traditional cigarette smoking. The invention is a non-ignited device, having approximately the same shape, dimensions, and weight of a traditional cigarette. The device contains two chambers along its length and incorporates a filter at the end of the smoking device placed in the mouth. The chambers contain pre-burned tobacco and unburned tobacco. The device is placed in the mouth of the user but is not lit. As the user draws on the tube, air is drawn through the center of the device. As the air moves through the device, it is flavored by the tobacco-containing chambers, which provides the taste, smell and sensation of a traditional cigarette. Additionally, ampules located within the mouth filter of the device release liquid nicotine into the mouth of the user when the user applies pressure to the mouth filter. The user can manually crush the ampules in the mouth filter before it is placed in the mouth, or bite down on the mouth filter as the device is used.
Thus the user simultaneously receives the tobacco-flavored air and the nicotine without being exposed to the carcinogens and other harmful agents found in tobacco smoke. Although the user never ignites the invention, the invention is ignited and extinguished during its manufacture so as to closely approximate the look, feel and taste of a traditional cigarette. However, since the user never ignites the invention, it does not pose health or safety hazards and therefore will not be banned in areas where traditional smoking is prohibited. Moreover, the invention is not consumed as it is used and can thus be reused a number of times before replacement is necessary. The invention can be used as a method by which to stop smoking completely, or merely as a substitute to traditional smoking.